


The Ribbon Holds Value

by myravenspirit



Series: Growing Affections [2]
Category: InuYasha - A Feudal Fairy Tale
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-21
Updated: 2020-07-21
Packaged: 2021-03-04 20:36:04
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,414
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25432468
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/myravenspirit/pseuds/myravenspirit
Summary: Where Rin decides it is time to let go of her ribbon wanting to look older. But the long worn ribbon has sentimental value for Rin, will it be easy for her to let go of it? Sesshomaru comes for a visit and helps Rin let go of the ribbon. (Rin is thirteen and betrothed to Sesshomaru for when she turns sixteen, nothing unusual in the feudal era).
Relationships: Ah-Un & Jaken & Rin (InuYasha), Rin & Sesshoumaru & Sesshoumaru's Mother, Rin & Sesshoumaru (InuYasha), Rin & Sesshoumaru's Mother (InuYasha), Rin/Sesshoumaru (InuYasha), Sesshoumaru & Sesshoumaru's Mother (InuYasha)
Series: Growing Affections [2]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1929718
Comments: 4
Kudos: 59





	The Ribbon Holds Value

**Author's Note:**

> Here are four physical prompts by screamibgdodo on Tumblr. I am only too happy to oblige and write stories for them:
> 
> -Tucking her hair behind her ear.
> 
> -Grasping his hand and putting it on her cheek.
> 
> -Pinching her cheek gently.
> 
> -Clipping her hair with gemstone-studded hairpin (I changed it for a comb in this story though)
> 
> Enjoy!

The first time he tucked her hair behind her ear was when she slid her ribbon out of her hair for the last time.

She was thirteen and engaged to him now. She was no longer a girl. She was on the cusp of becoming a woman. She understood that in three years she would lay with him as his wife.

She did not want to look like a little girl anymore for that very reason.

She wanted to be seen as a woman by Kaede who tried to treat her like a little girl. Sesshomaru, Inuyasha, and Miroku certainly acknowledged her aging. Sango sided with Kaede and often tried to make her play with dolls (something Rin had no interest in, even when she came to the village) and Kagome had told her she was on Rin and Sesshomaru's side: " _team SessxRin_! _Banzai!"_

Rin simply removed the ribbon, her hair having a small bump in her hair as she had tied the small part up when it had been still wet that morning. She walked to their meeting spot.

He was once again allowed to take her out of the village for the day. She wondered where they would go this time. They often went to the palace if they were being chaperoned by Jaken or to a field if their chaperone was Inuyasha and Kagome. Even Kohaku had acted as a chaperone once, but he kept a greater distance apart from them knowing that Sesshomaru was honourable.

She rather it be just her and Sesshomaru, but she understood the rules of the engagement. A chaperone meant that no one could say that something indecent happened between them.

She fussed with her hair and was near ready to put her ribbon back in, but a clawed hand ran through her hair suddenly. She lifted her gaze and saw molten amber eyes staring down at her.

"Did you lose your ribbon, Rin?" Sesshomaru asked with a small frown. He knew how important it was to her, her mother had given that ribbon to her. It was all she had left of her mother. Her family. The ribbon was the last tie, literally, to her family.

The realization that she was taking off her ribbon for good had her feel like she was abandoning her family for a final time. Salty tears pricked her eyes and she pulled the ribbon out from her kimono and held it firmly in her fist.

"Iie, Sesshomaru-sama. It is right here. Rin…I, wanted to look more like a woman." She dipped her head down.

Jaken made a raucous in the background as A-Un tried to stomp their way over to Rin and Sesshomaru. A few people in the fields below did not appreciate the two-headed beast as much as Rin did. _A-Un doesn't like my tears._ Rin thought with a small downturn of her lips.

"But?" Sesshomaru said and lifted her chin and they locked eyes. He knew her best and she knew him very well. It was clear in his eyes that he was concerned about her tears, perhaps not understanding the significance of the ribbon and what it meant to take it out for a final time.

"This ribbon is what I have left of my life before the bandits killed my ka-san and family. She gave this to me when I was five, they would be gone before I turned six. But…if I take this ribbon out now and leave it out does that mean I am a bad daughter?" Rin asked him. He made a small gasping noise, like the one he had made when she asked him to not forget her when she died. He stared down at her, she now stood up to mid-chest on him. His Mother had been so surprised at her growth spurts. _"Darling Rin grow nice and tall for Sesshomaru. Do not make him stoop to kiss you."_ The Lady Mother's voice rung in her mind. He still had his mother despite being near a millennia-old. He also had his late father's sword as a family heirloom, and he had often despised it and wanted to forsake it. She carried it every time until he took it back.

He remained silent until he enclosed Rin's hand with his large one, claws of his other hand reaching into his kimono. "Rin, you are your parents' good daughter if this ribbon causes you tears and distress." Sesshomaru told her.

Rin felt her bottom lip quiver and her eyes filled. Her brothers were protective, but they always thought she was a pest. Her father tolerated her songs with a small smirk on his lips, but quick to tell her to pull her weight along if she started getting distracted in the fields. Her mother encouraged her to sing and frolic in the woods and fields. No one had ever said she was a good daughter. Everyone always asked her to be a little more quiet, to be a little less excitable, to be a little more normal.

She closed her eyes and let the tears fall down her cheeks. "Gomen'nasai, Sesshomaru-sama. My parents never said such kind words." She hiccoughed and opened her eyes and hiccoughed again, eyes wide in embarrassment.

Sesshomaru stared at her with a smirk on his lips. "What is that sound now, Rin?"

"Hiccoughs!" She made the noise again and then covered her mouth and nose and held her breath as Kagome told her for a trick to clear them quickly. She counted to ten and let her breath out and hiccoughed again.

"Is it an ailment?" He asked with a slight frown.

She shook her head. _How embarrassing!_

She felt a clawed hand in her hair and something metal pushed into her dark thick strands. She reached up and felt his claws still in her hair. Her fingers touched his and she blushed softly, her breath ceasing as she felt a jewel under a part of her fingers. He moved his hand out from hers and she gasped at the comb in her hair. It sat where her ribbon had. He was still holding her other hand closed around her ribbon.

"Your ailment is cured." He commented and she nodded and felt her cheeks warm.

_He brought me a comb and it feels like it has flowers made in jewels._

"Arigato, Sesshomaru-sama. For the cure and the comb." She smiled up at him and then added, "And for your kind words."

"May I keep your ribbon?" He asked her.

She blinked at him in confusion. He squeezed her hand. She looked down and stared at how he held her hand carefully in his own.

"I will keep your ribbon with me. You need not feel shame for growing up. This one is pleased that his Rin is aging." He told her gently. Rin wondered if his last statement caused him some embarrassment to revert to third person, as if it was easier to speak of his own feelings in such a way.

She nodded and he let go of her hand and she opened her palm, he took the ribbon and surprised her as he fastened it onto his armour near the left red ties. The left side was close to the heart, Kagome had explained what organs were inside people. Jinenji and Miroku had found the lesson interesting too.

 _"Biology is an important subject! I will teach you all everything I learned in high school."_ She didn't know what 'high school' was but it sounded fascinating. Miroku had taught her to read and write until she was eleven, they even used some of Kagome's old textbooks that had been left behind in Kaede's home after she returned to her era suddenly. They had been abandoned and Rin found them interesting.

Neither of them could figure out the book called mathematics. Kagome taught Rin everything she knew once she returned, even mathematics. Rin wrote everything down for herself in empty books and scrolls Sesshomaru sent her because he knew she found a new passion in writing and learning. Lady Mother giving her a scroll on each visit that needed to be copied out as they were fraying and crumbling.

Yes, Rin was not the daughter of peasant farmers any longer, she was the betrothed of a daiyoukai, the self proclaimed Lord of the West.

She reached out and touched the ribbon. A clawed hand grabbed hers and held it gently. "This Sesshomaru is very happy that you are growing." Sesshomaru told her and Rin looked up at him, bring her out of her thoughts, and she saw him staring down at her.

She smiled and nodded. "I am happy too."

"Milord! The villagers are getting upset! A-Un, you beast!" Jaken screeched out and A-Un trampled over and rubbed their heads against Rin's sides. She giggled and patted them.

"A-Un, you are going to get yourselves banned from the village." Rin chided the beast. They only grunted in response.

"Rin-san! Your…Sesshomaru-sama's beast…it has nearly ruined the planting fields!" A man shouted.

Sesshomaru took a step forward and Rin and Jaken both stared at him. He reached into his kimono and threw a small bag of coins. "A-Un missed their Lady Rin. That will pay for any damages."

The man caught it and gasped. "Hai…arigato Sesshomaru-sama."

_Lady Rin._

Rin blushed and felt her heart give a small flutter. Sesshomaru merely looked over his shoulder at her and she blushed even more knowing he knew everything. From her scent to her heart beat. It was unfair advantage on his part. He walked back to her with a smile. He lifted her up by the hips and sat her on A-Un's saddle before grabbing the reins and lifting off up into the air. Jaken shouting at them below.

"We left Jaken-sama behind." Rin shouted at Sesshomaru.

He looked at her and down at the ground. "We'll go to the palace." He told her.

She smiled and nodded. _Lady Mother will give me another scroll then! What will I learn next?!_

000000000

When they landed shortly later he helped her off the saddle and he brushed her wind swept hair out her face and tucked her hair behind her ear. Her comb still in place amongst her dark locks of hair.

As he moved his hand down from her hair. Rin grabbed his hand and pressed it against her cheek and held it there. She rubbed her cheek against his palm, and he felt pleased that Rin wanted to be held by him.

"Rin, come along." He said to her gently. She nodded and he decided to do something uncharacteristic, but he gently pinched the top of her cheek bone wanting to see her reaction to his sudden action.

She stared up at him and blushed softly.

"Darling ones. You are both here!" He heard his mother call out as she walked toward them. She walked up to him and pinched his cheek.

Rin lowered her hands and he gave her a look before her eyes widened and the Lady Mother pinched her cheek too. It wasn't as gentle as Sesshomaru's and it felt very different. Rin squeaked in pain and Sesshomaru knocked his mother's hand aside as he saw a small trail of blood at the top of Rin's cheek.

"Gomen, my claws." The Lady Mother said and looked at her claws. "When you have babies, I will have to file them. I do want to hold a small baby once again." She mused aloud.

Sesshomaru watched as Rin blushed at his Mother's words. "Leave Mother." Sesshomaru ordered his mother as he looked at Rin's cut.

"Alright, alright." She said with a smirk and left them there.

A-Un nudged Rin. "A-Un you should go rest. I'm fine." Rin patted their neck. They trotted off and Sesshomaru stared down at Rin.

"Rin do not move." He ordered her.

"Hai." She said and he loomed over her face and he watched her eyes fall shut. _I could easily kiss her._ He thought for a moment before he moved his lips to her cut. He kissed it before pulling back and let his tongue run along it. He felt her shiver in his hold. He mentally smirked at her reaction.

He could tease her properly in three years.

For now, he licked her wound shut, tongue stroking her skin slowly and carefully for five strokes until he was sure that not even a scar would appear on his Rin's cheek. He opened his eyes and pulled back. He smirked at Rin's red flushed face, from the roots of her hair down to the collar of her kimono.

He pinched her ear, even her ears were red.

"Se-Se-Sesshomaru-sama!" She looked at him indignantly.

"Nani?" He raised an eyebrow. Her scent told him she was quite pleased with him, even if she didn't understand how she felt herself.

"You licked my face!"

"I licked your face to heal it." He told her and pinched the end of her nose before moving his hand to his side.

"Inuyasha-sama and Kaede-sama and Sango-sama too, they would be disappointed in you!" Rin squeaked out.

"Let them be as they are. Is Rin disappointed in her Sesshomaru?" He could hear her heart thunder in her chest. He mentally noted to try and not tease his betrothed so, but it had been entertaining.

He saw her turn around and bow her head. A reaction he did not expect. "Rin is not disappointed. Rin is very happy that her Sesshomaru-sama cares enough to lick her wound shut." She said quietly.

"Hn. Let's go to the garden, Rin." Sesshomaru said and saw Rin whip around with a smile on her face.

"Hai, Sesshomaru-sama! I can cut the fruit again for you." She smiled up at him.

He ran the back of his hand along her cheek. "Only if it pleases you." She nodded and they walked off together to the garden a servant watching from the distance.

"Who knew the Lady Mother's little prince would finally grow up and find himself a pretty little princess." The servant sighed to himself. He saw the domineering gaze of the young lord turn to him with a small glare. The servant bowed in respect and sighed as the young betrothed couple disappeared. He sighed to himself, "Ah! My poor peacock youkai heart cannot handle a scare like that again. Surely, it is because the little princess is here that saved me!"

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed it!


End file.
